Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:879-887
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
General hospital psychiatry: overview from a sociological perspective
LL Bachrach
The role of the general hospital within the psychiatric service delivery
network has undergone profound changes in recent years. Current issues in
general hospital psychiatry revolve around questions concerning boundaries,
target populations, appropriate services, structural characteristics, and
deinstitutionalization. Decisions in general hospital psychiatry derive
from a series of influences that originate at varing distances from
day-to-day hospital operations. Planning should ideally be filtered through
the hospital's internal decision-making process in order to ensure a
"bottom-up" rather than a "top-down" emphasis in service policy.
